Cape Town · 2018
Day Zero
In 2018, Cape Town came within weeks of switching off its taps.
Chapter 1 · Before
Before, nobody counted.
A bath. A garden hose. A long shower after rugby.
“I used to water the lawn just for fun.”
In February 2015 the city used almost 1.2 billion litres of water a day.4
Chapter 2 · The drain
Then the rain stopped coming. Three winters in a row.
Theewaterskloof, the biggest dam, fell to about 10%.12
The last 10% of a dam is mud nobody can use.8
“Gran says the dam looks like the moon now.”
Chapter 3 · Fifty
From 1 February 2018: 50 litres. Per person. Per day.1
50 L
A five-minute shower uses about 45 of them.7
“I do the sums every night. It never adds up.”
Chapter 4 · The countdown
Day Zero 12 April
When the dams reached 13.5%, most taps would be switched off.2
Then about 200 collection points. 25 litres each.3
People queued at mountain springs before sunrise.9
Chapter 5 · The turn
So a whole city started counting.
“Shower water goes in a bucket. The bucket flushes the toilet.”
Chapter 6 · The rain
That winter, the rain came back.
By October 2018, dams feeding the city went from below 16% to full in places.11
In October 2020, Theewaterskloof overflowed for the first time in six years.12
Chapter 7 · Your turn
Could you live on 50 litres?
Day Zero never came. A whole city decided it wouldn’t.
Thandi is fictional. Every number is real.